Edelweisspiraten
bell (bell@RZ.UNI-DUESSELDORF.DE)
Mon, 21 Nov 1994 12:56:25 GMT
Dear Jim,
>Did they perceive of there action as civil disobedience? Were
>they aware that they might be hanged for their actions?
>Or were they thinking that they couldn't possible get caught?
Very good questions! And not easy to answer for one who was born many years
later. I don't know what these boys thought. Literature about them is not
easy to get and contradictionary in places. Some early writers, after the
war used only the Gestapo files for their research, so they found out the
Edelweisspiraten were criminals! As they were outlaws, they got no
food-tickets and therefore no food. For that reason, they had to steal to
survive. Criminals?
Only a couple of years ago, they were accepted in Germany as resistance,
after one of the survivors got the highest Israelian award (sorry, I forgot
its name). I am trying to find out that persons adress, because I want to
invite him to one of our groups meeting to tell my girls and boys of his
experiences. If I succed, I will put your questions (and many more) to him.
>From his speech at that memorial service, I took that much: Yes, they were
aware of their danger. They even got themselves weapons to defend
themselves. Criminals?
>I'm not sure I can think of similar case in American History.
You should be glad that American History did not give the chance to have a
similar case.
Gut Pfad!
Rabe Ralf.Bell@uni-duesseldorf.de
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
